LeBron gets his 20th Sports Illustrated cover

LeBron James appears on the cover of the July 1 issue of Sports Illustrated.…

June 26, 2013|By Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel

MIAMI — As expected, it's another Sports Illustrated cover for LeBron James in the wake of the Miami Heat's second consecutive NBA championship, his 20th such appearance.

Included in the piece is LeBron discussing his Michael Jordan moment, when he hit the key late jumper that gave the Heat a decisive four-point lead in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.

"I know it wasn't the magnitude of MJ hitting that shot in '98, but I definitely thought about him," James said of comparing his moment to Jordan's Finals-winning moment against the Utah Jazz. "It was an MJ moment . . . It was an LJ moment."

In the piece, James talks about the timing of that shot in the wake of his earlier shooting struggles in the Finals.

"Even the best have self-doubt at times when what they're doing isn't working," he said in the story. "You need a reminder."

James said he played the title-winning game amid varies levels of discomfort.

"I felt all these nicks and bruises and little injuries I didn’t know I had," he said. "My back, my hamstring, my ankle, both my elbows, they were all aching. I guess I just didn't pay attention to them."

As he did during his Tuesday media session at AmericanAirlines Arena, James said in the Sports Illustrated piece that he will handle his potential 2014 free agency differently than when he left the Cleveland Cavaliers in July 2010.

"I'm a totally different person on the court, off the court and everywhere in between," he told Sports Illustrated. "I know it will come up, but it's not going to come up until it's at that point."